Electric mobility refers to the electrified transport ecosystem. The e-mobility ecosystem comprises electric vehicles, energy storage solutions (mainly batteries currently) and the battery charging infrastructure.
Worldwide, over 10 million electric cars were plying on the roads by the end of 2020. If that seems like a large number, consider that there are over one billion IC engine vehicles running on the same roads. Electric vehicles are thus in their initial stages of growth, though they have significant growth potential during the 2020-2030 period.
Electric vehicles are not exactly new. Some of the first motor vehicles to run on the roads were electric. However, EV adoption is not easy in a world that has got used to the convenience and cost of oil-based vehicles. The high cost of battery storage makes electric vehicles more expensive than the conventional ones. Other challenges include the comparatively limited range that many electric cars provide, and the long time taken for battery charging. All these challenges are however being overcome at a fast pace.
Transportation contributes about 20% of the total CO2 emissions worldwide - about 7.2 billion tons of CO2 per year. Electrification has the potential to significantly reduce a vehicle’s CO2 emissions - by as much as 70% compared to an IC engine vehicle and the reductions could be much higher as the power sources become more renewable and low carbon.
While electric mobility is growing in all parts of the world, expect electric cars to grow predominantly in the developed countries until about 2025, with lighter vehicles (electric 2 and 3 wheelers) being the driver for EV growth in developing and underdeveloped countries until this time.
For the 2020-2030 period, the scope of innovations in e-mobility is vast. In addition to innovations happening around batteries and fuel cells, expect impactful innovations around purpose-built EVs, electrifying heavy vehicles and light commercial vehicles, electric 2 wheelers, EV building platforms, business models such as electric mobility as a service and use of EVs extensively by utilities.
The global transport sector accounts for about 8 billion tons of CO2 emissions every year. Electric vehicles have the potential to scale and be able to replace a reasonable percentage of ICE vehicles by 2030 and a significant percentage by 2050.
Even in a scenario where electric vehicles account for just 5% of all the vehicles on the road, annual CO2 emissions from the transport sector could be reduced by about 250 million tons, under suitable assumptions for electric vehicle portfolios and lifecycle carbon footprints.
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